Monday, August 22, 2011

After the credit downgrade, “only countries with parliamentary systems” have AAA ratings (except for France, which is a presidential/parliamentary hybrid).

And many of those (European) countries are having riots because they are almost broke and can't keep giving the people more and more.

That “brought to mind my years in political science graduate school,” where he learned that parliamentary systems were superior because “the executive governs the legislature.”

And the legislature can take down the government.

Citing Juan Linz’s “The Perils of Presidentialism,” an essay that argued that parliamentary systems are less stable but more efficient

Less stable. Sounds loke what we all want.

because “there is no contest for national legitimacy and power,” Zakaria agrees with the thesis of that paper, suggesting that the American regime is antiquated in its functions. “Think of David Cameron in England,” Zakaria noted, arguing that the UK Parliament was far more likely to not “squabble” or “hold the country hostage” in a way that would hurt the economy.